Cleaning/Organizine

Our garage is a place for junk.  Everything that has a flat surface is covered with tools, junk. Some is really junk, but most are tools and supplies that does not have a decent storage place.  During some of this cleaning I have found tools that I haven't seen for years.

Above is my workbench made out of three 8/4 oak.  There are times that I would like lay something on the bench, but I can't because there is always something there. There is a nice vice on the right end.

I worked on the piano bench this morning. Last night I made seven plugs and glued a plug in each hole.  I used a plane to remove part of the plug sticking up above the bench.  I then sanded them even with the bench top.  I used my router to round off the edges..  Last I sanded the top one more time.  

Here, I cleaned the floor and vacuumed. I did the same in other areas of the garage.

The blade  on the table saw  is very dull.  I cut some yesterday and it got very hot and began to smoke.  Don't want to have hot sawdust start a fire. 

I took the saw blade into the house were the light was better for a closer look at the carbide tips.  Harbor Freight has a saw sharpener for $56. New blades cost $25 to $55.

The blade is removed and more table top to the right is cleaned. 

My miter saw was very dirty.  Changing the angle  was quite difficult.  I removed the back fence which gave me a better view that made it easy to clean. I had to remove four bolts which were metic in size.  It was slow tedious work.  Finally I got them out and cleaned it up.  putting the fence back on was hard.  I had another set of sockets and wrenches in house three.  Using the right size socket made it much easier.

I watered in house two.  Above is a close-up the worm garden.  They have really been active.

I left the north door of house two open.  One or more cats came in and pooped in our raised beds.

        

Comments and questions are welcome.  

    

The Piano Bench Still ---

We are able to leave the Manti Utah Temple and hour earlier than we usually do.  We then get home an hour sooner.

 I cleaned the shop.  The was sawdust and small pieces of wood on the floor and dust on top of everything.  I scrape the sawdust into a pile with a long handled squeegee and scrape into a pile and then gather it up with a dustpan.  I took most of the sawdust out the watermelon garden.

I have been using an 84 four tooth saw.  I like it because it makes very smooth surface.  The draw back is how dusty it is.  There  is dust on everything in the garage.  I took it off and put on another blade which has fewer teeth.  It was so dull. It smoked all over trying to rip a board.  

Now to the bench.  It looks really good, but it wobbles some to the left or fight.  I bought four lag bolts to put through the top down into the legs at each end.  One end I missed the legs.  I made two more holes.  I made a small piolet hole, then another hole to counter sink the lag bolt and then a hole through the top to accommodate the bolt.  To my disappointment there was not room for a wrench.  Then I used some large screws.  I made some plugs to cover the screws and cover the holes that I didn't use.  In the morning I will trim off the plugs.


Comments and questions are welcomed.

Bench Finished Except Stain

Another day in the garage.  I started working again on the piano bench. It took me most of the day to finish.

The bottom of  both legs were not smooth or at a right angle.  I shimmed one of the with a thin piece of wood.  It is glued on with a heavy gear while the glue sets.  

You can't see it but there is a little piece of wood blued to the end of the other leg.  The little clamp is holding it tight.

 The tenon is showing with a small mortise to hold a wedge that holds the trestle tight against the leg.  I had to make a wider mortise and I made several wedges before I got them to fit.

Here the wedge is finished and driven tightly through the mortise.

Attaching the legs to the bench top was another challenge.  I tried the pocket device for pocket holes.  The width was too great.  Finally I used a drill to make my own pocket. There were two on each side.  I used a counter sink to hide the screw head.    

Here is the finished bench.  Except, I have yet to stain it. 

The "Devil's Ice Tower"  is growing again.  There have been several days and night below freezing.  As well as several weeks of below freezing during the night.  I turned the water off as soon as the temperature was above freezing and then back on when the temperature drops below freezing.



Comments and questions are welcome.

Didn't Finish

I filled the thirty gallon barrel with fertilizer.  Frank brought some when he came yesterday.  I then  watered all the plants in house two with the fertilized water.  I haven't used fertilizer all winter.

I worked on the piano bench most of the day.  Some of the bench was put together.  I took it all apart. and discovered that I had made some mistakes.  I didn't get enough pictures to give remember most of the details.

There are two legs.  I made mistakes on the bottom and also on the top.  Some of the screws were in the wrong place.  I drilled them out with half inch bit.  I put the plug cuter in the drill press and made eight plugs to fill the holes.  I applied glue to the plugs and put glue in the holes.  With a hammer I tapped each one firmly into the holes.

I held it in the vise and sawed off the plugs. I made a paste with powdered saw dust and Elmer's glue to fill in the drill bit tare outs.   I shaved a little off the edge which cleaned up nicely.  There were two that were not were not dry enough.  That is for tomorrow.

I had a nice weathered four foot long 2x4 I trimmed both sides to 2x2 3/4.  The saw started to spark.  There were four grabber nails hidden in the wood.  I used that board for something else; I drove a screw in it and the head broke off leave the screw shaft in the wood.  Over the years the entrance hole disappeared.  I then planned the two flat surfaces.   Next I put the legs into position to accurately measure the cross piece that connects both legs.  A tenon has to be made to fit the hole, the mortise, I used the table saw sled to make the tenon on one end.  I used the saw and a hand saw for the other one.

The above picture is where I gave up for the night.  I could not hook the upper bracket to the bench top.  One screw was to long and another screw was to short.  I am considering using pocket screws tomorrow.

Day two of the second week.


Comments and questions are welcome.

Nursery Work Today

Robert and Frank and Christi have been here all afternoon.  They did some planting.   Following are some things planted, some things growing, some things harvested, some things waiting to be planted.

 Cool weather crops.  Beets, radishes

 Some heirloom onions and the rest of the space to be planted sometime in the future.

 Peas in the front are killed by an infestation of aphids.  The predator wasp are showing up.

 The back of this bed are cabbage, cauliflower, red beets, radishes, and carrots

 This is the worm bed.  It was built today.  It is two feet wide and nearly twenty seven inches long.  It is made out of one 8 foot 2x6 with 1/4 inch hardware cloth on the bottom and a lid made of a piece of plywood.  The will be fed table scraps.  Lettuce and beet leaves. etc.

 The lid is on the worm bed.

The worm bed at the lower right and the lid with a handle which is white. The other two beds waiting to be planted.

The above photo shows how the my thumb looked at the end of the first week.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Piano Bench Starting to Take Shape

We were at the Manti Temple all morning and were home by 2:30 this afternoon.  I went to the garage and began work on the piano bench.  All of the lumber is glued together.  Today I sanded, planed, and cut out all the parts.

This is the bench top and two support brackets, shoulders, that are attached with two screws each.  I spent a lot of time sanding this with my belts sander.

There are two legs which are seven inches wide and eleven inches tall.  I wanted to cut mortise for the brace between the legs. 

I cut the leg in half and then with my table saw sled I nibbled away the a dado in both halves.  The first one took quite a while.  I was in rhythm on the second one and it went much faster.  

Here the leg is on its side.  It hasn't been glued together.

I smoothed out most of the saw marks with a fine cut rasp.

I applied glue and clamped the two haves together.  I did the same for the other side.

I had cut out the foot and the shoulders.  The foot is on the bottom of the leg and the shoulder is attached to the bottom of the bench top.   Using the miter sled, I cut a short miter on both ends of the shoulder and foot to make it look a little better.  The photo above show a miter being cut.  

Thumb is beginning to heal. Tonight it has a good scab.   I worked most of the afternoon wearing leather gloves.

Comments and questions are welcomed.

Today & Piano Bench

This morning after the news and some chores I watered in house two.  The plants there are doing pretty good.  However, there is quite and infestation of aphids.  I saw some, I think, tiny predatory wasps.  They will soon get control of the aphids.

I am taking a picture every day.  This is from last night.  I did post anything yesterday.

 Last week I made the top or seat of the piano bench.  Today I started on the rest of the pieces.  I riped the old weathered boards.   Above is one of the two ends.  They are about 1 1/4 inches thick and seven inches wide and 11 1/2 inches tall.

 There are four identical pieces.  One is attached to the top of the end piece which is attached to the top.  The bottom piece rests on the floor.

Standing on its end is the bench top.  The other end piece is on the floor leaning against the bench top.

My thumb tonight



Comments and questions are welcome.

Lazy Day

It was snowing a little when I got up.  After breakfast I walked out to turn on the water.  It has been of four a couple of days.  I hasn't been cold enough to freeze.  The hose bib in house five was frozen.  I brought out a gallon of hot water.  It took about a quart of it to get the water flowing.

After lunch I pushed the snow off the driveway and sidewalk to the front door.  I used the big push broom and removed most of the snow.  I also used the scoop shovel.  The temperature warmed up some and the snow left on the driveway began to melt.  I used the broom again for the slush.   Then I did the side walk.  There was four to five inches of snow.

This block of ice has been shrinking due to the above freezing temperatures during the last three weeks.  Today it is growing some.

Freckles and Junior covered with snow came up to eat.  I stepped out and got this picture.  Junior ran away.  Later Freckles went into the cat house next to the garage.

My sore thumb has scabbed up some and if I am careful I can use it some.  Lazy day,  I have been resting my sore thumb.


Comments and questions are welcome.

Haircut

We drove to Utah county for some shopping and to get a pressure regulator.  We stopped at several places on our way.   Carol put new dressing on my thumb.  It is feeling better.

We met Lisa, Eric, and Allie at the Chinese Buffet.  I had plenty to eat.  The photo above shows Carol, Me, Allie, Eric, and Lisa.  We had a nice lunch and visit.

It is Carol's birthday Sunday and lunch was part of her birthday.   Lisa and Eric brought her a couple of nice blouses and the above picture of Jesus Christ holding child on her lap.  It is made by a well established artist.

We stopped at Carol's sister, Nyleen and her husband Miles.  He is my barber and when in the chair I got the above selfie.

After the hair cut Carol to the above picture.  Miles is on the left with me on the right.  We then came home.  As always, we stopped at the Red Barn for ice cream.  We also bought some apples and a jar of home made peanut butter.  It didn't taste very good

I bought a pressure regulator for the compressor.  I put on as soon as I got home.  It didn't work.  I discovered that I put in on with the air flow going the wronge way. I took it off and reversed it.  It seemed to work okay for about 20 seconds and then shut down.  I had to turn it off and on numerous time to build up the pressure.  Then it wouldn't work at all.  There seems to be wrong with the switch.  It is going to snow tomorrow and I want to use the tractor to remove the snow from our driveway.

Comments and questions are welcome.